Cards top Cats in five sets: Volleyball suffers first loss of season

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By T. J. Walker

LOUISVILLE – Before Wednesday night, UK and Louisville hadn’t faced off in four years. Most of the 1,270 fans in attendance would agree the game was worth the wait.

The Cards handed UK its first loss of the season winning 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 22-25, 16-14) in their own gym.

“If people didn’t get their money’s worth then I’m not sure what to put on the floor to get that money’s worth,“ UK head coach Craig Skinner said, “It was intense, exciting and Louisville made the plays. They made the hustle plays when it mattered, got the kills when they needed to in transition to make the difference.”

The No. 16 Cats (10-1) faced a Louisville team ready for the challenge after a lull in the rivalry. Louisville won its sets by an average of five points but that was hardly an indication of the intensity of the rivalry.

“It’s a tough environment but its fun,” senior libero and Louisville native BriAnne Sauer said. “It’s very loud, the people in the crowd are so close to you it feels like they’re yelling right there at you. It’s a really good atmosphere, if you’re on the other team.”

Sauer’s six digs moved her into second place all-time in the UK career digs category. Sauer is four digs away from becoming the second player ever to eclipse the 1,200 digs mark.

It appeared after the third set UK was going to fall, but the Cats rallied to win the fourth and forced a fifth set. The fifth set was back and forth with Louisville (7-3) squeaking out a close win and bragging rights.

UK was able to hang in the game thanks to junior outside hitter Sarah Mendoza. Mendoza led UK with 26 kills, a career high. Although Mendoza wasn’t particularly pleased with her effort, Skinner was.

“She’s a fighter, she gets after it and she’s going to swing away until the end and she did,” Skinner said.

Despite Mendoza’s efforts, the Cats never seemed comfortable. UK had 33 errors and nine service errors.

UK will enter Southeastern Conference play on Sunday when the Cats travel to Baton Rouge, La., to face Louisiana State University on national television. This will be the first time this season the Cats will face a team coming off a loss.

“It’s a new season, we start fresh,” Sauer said. “So starting tomorrow we’ll start practice and start preparing for LSU, and that’s what we need to focus on. We can’t think about this past game. We just have to move forward and get ready for SEC (play).”